Re: Wiser's Legacy

Right, that and other bourbon brands appear to have been made mainly for sale to visiting Americans, i.e., during the Volstead era. The comparison of American rye with Canadian rye labels makes it clear that American straight rye was made for the same purpose. Today, trade agreements prevent the manufacture of bourbon in Canada so-called.

By the way, bourbon (excepting a couple of instances) is made in the U.S. in column stills. However, the key thing to understand is that they are operated in a way to reduce their efficiency, such that under 160 proof distillation will occur thereby preserving grain and other fermentation characteristics in the entered and fully matured product. In a word, the column still is used to emulate an alembic pot still. An interesting factor is that even if you distill out in pot and column stills to the same proof, the spirit will have different co-products (with alcohol) and not taste identical. Generally, the pot still product will be more pungent.

Re: Wiser's Legacy

There is even an "Old Hickory" but it is an "American Rye Whiskey"...another Wiser's brand. Wiser's history appears to have followed a familiar company trajectory with other old firms...founder creates high quality product, dies and then the company is sold to various firms over the years....today it is part of Corby / Pernard Ricard.

Column stills are more modern, generally more precise and definitely more versatile. They're also cheaper to run. Since they can make very pure alcohol, they can be used to make all kinds of stuff, from industrial alcohol, to vodka, to whiskey. If you're just starting out a liquor-making company and you want to have a diverse product portfolio, you could make a whole host of products with just one column still. If you need to make ginormous amounts of whiskey, you would likewise probably invest in a computer-controlled column still to make the quantity of product you desire. And while you're at it, you'd probably also mix your whiskey with some of the pure grain alcohol you made in your fancy still too (blended whisky producers do this).

Pot stills require multiple distillations to really make pure spirit -- more impurities (flavors) are left in the booze after a distillation. That makes them much more expensive when making purer alcohols. But the fact that they leave so much flavor in the distillate is what makes them good for whiskey. Whiskey distillers usually do multiple distillations to make their products though (two or three runs through the still).

Re: Wiser's Legacy

That quote Jono is I believe from Michael Jackson's 1987 World Guide to Whisky, cited in the bibliography on the site (together with many other excellent sources). I am not sure today Seagram operates in the same fashion. I recall in a Malt Advocate article, it was explained by a Seagram distiller that different ages of 5 basic whiskies are used for Crown Royal, some batch, some continuous-made. Today Seagram produces its brands only in one distillery, in Manitoba, is my further understanding).